Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => Fishing Reports => Members' Fishing Reports => Topic started by: stinkytroutboy on November 20, 2012, 02:36:05 PM
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Fished the Chehalis river today with Slyrod. River looked like the cup of chocolate milk I drank this morning. I decided to make the best of the day although the conditions were less then ideal. We started the day just above the bridge but below the canyon. I had a few tricks up my sleeve that my uncle linus taught me years ago. I fished a 5in bright pink worm first thing and was rewarded with a beautiful 10-12lb hatchery buck. The following cast was into another coho. That was it for the next 3 hours. Slyrod landed 3 chum salmon on a curly tail grub. None of which were hooked in the mouth. My time came again around 11am when my float was burried and a beautiful wild summer run steelhead was landed and gently released. All in all a great morning fish with a great friend. Tight lines
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congrtas on the successful day and the wild steelhead! :) I think finding any wild steelhead in that system is very rare. From what i understand they are very few and far between.
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Best place for summers...back up into the canyon...but not many wilds in my experiences
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Best place for summers...back up into the canyon...but not many wilds in my experiences
There has been an increasing trend in the number of 'wild' summer runs in the river. I would guess that after years of hatchery augmentation there has been some naturalization. I released one on sunday, which is too bad cause I just got a call today saying they're looking for brood :-*
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Lol there looking for summer brood now. Can they wait till last minute or what.
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If they were to hold a summer fish in the tanks from the summer, the fish has a greater chance of dying rather than bringing them in for brood in the winter.
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Lol there looking for summer brood now. Can they wait till last minute or what.
Last minute? The Fraser Valley Trout hatchery still has to hold the fish for 3-4 months so not really last minute.
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Last minute? The Fraser Valley Trout hatchery still has to hold the fish for 3-4 months so not really last minute.
As others have mentioned the summer run brood collection starts later in the fall. Although over the past few years no brood collection was required as all the fish simply swam right up to the hatchery.
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Makes sense. Do they just use wild fish for the summer brood or do they take whatever they can get like Seymour.
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Makes sense. Do they just use wild fish for the summer brood or do they take whatever they can get like Seymour.
Wild is always preferred, but if numbers are super low or they only collect hatchery (like the Seymour) then they'll take what they get
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Makes sense. Do they just use wild fish for the summer brood or do they take whatever they can get like Seymour.
For summer run fish they take either as there is no true wild summer run on the Chehalis. The fish were transplanted from the Coquihalla in the late 60's early 70's. Some fish do reproduce in the wild on their own however they're considered "unmarked" fish not wilds.
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I hear ya. As for Seymour I have seen a wild fish before but probly only 1 in a hundred.
As for the "unmarked fish" sorta thing this is bs cause i have heard guys say whatever just kill the wild summer anywho cause its not a true wild. Personally I would love to see a lot more wilds around and maby they should just stop clipping summers so they don't get bonk.
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I hear ya. As for Seymour I have seen a wild fish before but probly only 1 in a hundred.
As for the "unmarked fish" sorta thing this is bs cause i have heard guys say whatever just kill the wild summer anywho cause its not a true wild. Personally I would love to see a lot more wilds around and maby they should just stop clipping summers so they don't get bonk.
The only reason there is a summer run of steelhead in the Chehalis is for the fish to be killed. They were brought over for "angler opportunity" and thought that the fish would never reproduce on its own in the wild. Why they thought that I have no idea and it is kind of silly really lol
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thought that the fish would never reproduce on its own in the wild. Why they thought that I have no idea and it is kind of silly really lol
Its not that silly really.
DFO tried transplanting Atlantics into multiple systems on Vancouver island back in the day (and if I remember correctly even some Chwk River headwaters).
Most of those never took.
Steelhead are similar in some ways.
Each steelhead run is very unique in its genetics, run timings, where they spawn, what water temps they can tolerate, etc.
More so, the time that they spawn directly effects smolt survival based on when the eggs hatch, food available, etc which is diff in each system.
That is not to say the Steelhead cannot adapt to a new river environment, but generally they would die out before that occurs.
Now with a hatchery on that river system for so long, they may be allowing the fish to adapt, that may be why you are starting to see more "wild fish."
Some other examples of this is why the vedder reds colour so quick, and why it is practically all hatchery enhanced (they don't do well spawning naturally in the Vedder). It is also why FFSBC puts so much research into what strains they can stock into each lake, etc, just because each strain of rainbow is well suited for a particular environment (specific water hardness, pH, temp, etc).
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Its not that silly really.
DFO tried transplanting Atlantics into multiple systems on Vancouver island back in the day (and if I remember correctly even some Chwk River headwaters).
Most of those never took.
Steelhead are similar in some ways.
Each steelhead run is very unique in its genetics, run timings, where they spawn, what water temps they can tolerate, etc.
More so, the time that they spawn directly effects smolt survival based on when the eggs hatch, food available, etc which is diff in each system.
That is not to say the Steelhead cannot adapt to a new river environment, but generally they would die out before that occurs.
Now with a hatchery on that river system for so long, they may be allowing the fish to adapt, that may be why you are starting to see more "wild fish."
Some other examples of this is why the vedder reds colour so quick, and why it is practically all hatchery enhanced (they don't do well spawning naturally in the Vedder). It is also why FFSBC puts so much research into what strains they can stock into each lake, etc, just because each strain of rainbow is well suited for a particular environment (specific water hardness, pH, temp, etc).
hey thats a cool post, thanks
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X2
Every day
Your posts are much appreciated. I do learn quite a bit from yourself and the other knowledgable members of this forum.
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thanks
I enjoy these posts and hate those BB debates.
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thanks
I enjoy these posts and hate those BB debates.
What's wrong with BB?.......
:-X ;D just kidding
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Its not that silly really.
DFO tried transplanting Atlantics into multiple systems on Vancouver island back in the day (and if I remember correctly even some Chwk River headwaters).
Most of those never took.
Steelhead are similar in some ways.
Each steelhead run is very unique in its genetics, run timings, where they spawn, what water temps they can tolerate, etc.
More so, the time that they spawn directly effects smolt survival based on when the eggs hatch, food available, etc which is diff in each system.
That is not to say the Steelhead cannot adapt to a new river environment, but generally they would die out before that occurs.
Now with a hatchery on that river system for so long, they may be allowing the fish to adapt, that may be why you are starting to see more "wild fish."
Some other examples of this is why the vedder reds colour so quick, and why it is practically all hatchery enhanced (they don't do well spawning naturally in the Vedder). It is also why FFSBC puts so much research into what strains they can stock into each lake, etc, just because each strain of rainbow is well suited for a particular environment (specific water hardness, pH, temp, etc).
got a link to dfo and atlantics, what rivers?
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got a link to dfo and atlantics, what rivers?
No link, you just have to search through the DFO sites.
Habitat wizard --> fisheries inventories --> type in river names.
Only one I can think of off the top of my head right now is the cowichan... I'll take a look around later in the day.
Cheers,
Dan
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Found an easier way to do it rather than type in river names and find what you get.
Go to (fish stocking query):
http://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/fidq/stockedSpeciesSelect.do
Select Atlantic salmon under fish species, and Province of BC and hit select.
That will generate a list for you of every system in BC that has at one point been stocked with Atlantic's.
Some Island notables:
Ash, Chemainus, Courtenay, Cowichan, French Creek, Englishman, Great Central Lake, Nanaimo Lakes, Qualicum and Sproat (among others).
Mainland notables:
Trout Lake, Stave River, Squamish River, Harrison Lake, Deer Lake and Coquitlam River.
All Atlantic's stocked were diploids in hopes to establish wild, naturalized runs.
None of these runs ever took hold.
This is partially due to the large difference in what Atlantic's are adapted to. The main adaptation they lacked that lead to their demise was resistance to BKD (Bacterial Kidney Disease). Almost all pacific salmon carry BKD, but they have evolved along side the disease for many years and have an immunity to it (unless they are spawning, or already ill). Atlantic's have absolutely no immunity to it, and die with exposure. This, among other diseases, and emergence times all kept the Atlantic's from establishing runs.
Now apparently, some years there are good runs of Atlantic's in the Salmon river. I haven't been up there to catch them, but I hear that they have somewhat started a small run there. From what I understand is they have also observed smolts (easy to spot, very large pectoral fins) in swim counts (although I can't find confirmation of this anywhere). It would be interesting to see if these fish have somehow developed an immunity much like pacific salmon to BKD, or possibly the low salmon returns higher up in the system have helped these Atlantic's along...
Cheers,
Dan